ground effects. I can't make them nice

kenposan

I'm struggling with basic ground effects, namely making a nice path. I can't figure out where I am going wrong. I'm using Schley's SS4 presets.

Basically, I add a path and the inner fade, well, fades. I get a nice little blended kind of look between the path and the background. But if I add any other Outside or Background that touches that path (like I wanted to add different grass), the fade ends where they touch. I've tried setting different layers to no avail. Or least I think I did. LOL

I'm guessing this is a fairly noob type issue with a simple solution, but it's escaping me. Please the attached pic, which I hope explains things a bit better.

thanks!!

Monsen

Put them at different sheets.
Edge Fade looks at the complete outline of all entities on a sheet when applying the effect, and not at each individual entity, so when you need one entity to "fade into" another, they must be on different sheets.

Loopysue

That's sheets, not layers

Everyone gets them confused to start with

kenposan

I must be doing something wrong or completely misunderstanding. In the attached image, I have a background sheet, an outside sheet, and a path sheet, but the only fade is between the background sheet and the path sheet. the outside sheet and path sheet don't have the fade.

What I am doing wrong or misunderstanding?

Loopysue

Have you added an Edge Fade Inner sheet effect to the 'outside sheet'?

JimP

As Sue says, if you add a sheet, it doesn't get effects unless you go into the sheet menu/popup and add them.

Loopysue

Better still - if you want to arrange it that the path has faded edges no matter what it crosses or covers, and if the Edge Fade Inner effect I think you have on what you are calling your background sheet is a bit of a pain (as I imagine it might be if that is really the background to the whole map), move that effect onto the path sheet and rearrange the order of the sheets so that the path is on top of both the other sheets in the drawing (which means putting it above both those sheets in the order shown in the sheets and effects dialog).

kenposan

Outside sheet: edge fade, inner
Path sheet: edge fade, inner

You can see in the previous pic where the outside sheet meets the background it fades. but the path sheet, which is over both the background and the outside sheet, only fades where it meets the background.

So I'm not understanding why the fade edge of the path, on the path sheet, isn't fading except where it touches the background sheet. Where it touches the outside sheet, it doesn't.

The order of the sheets is:

background
outside
path

What I'm getting is that anything touching the background fades like it's supposed to, but if it crosses another sheet, it doesn't.

Loopysue

Its not making much sense is it.

What figures do you have in the Edge Fade Inner effect on the Path sheet, and when you give the order of sheets do you mean that this is the order shown in the sheets and effects dialog (which is upside down compared to what you see in the map)?

Loopysue

Also - it might be worth checking that all the things you have drawn are on the sheets you think they are. You can do this by hiding all the sheets then revealing them one at a time to see what you have on each sheet. I suspect that the paths and outside areas you've drawn are actually on the same sheet - which would explain why there's no Edge Fade Inner at work on them.

Its what Monsen was talking about before. Two polys overlapping on one sheet won't fade but remain hard edged where they overlap. It is only their combined outside edge... their total silhouette... that will fade.

Lorelei

Would you mind posting the .fcw (the actual map file) here so we can take a look? By your pic it looks as if your polygons are not actually on the sheet you are naming them. If we can see the file you're working on, it helps in making sure what's going on here and how to instruct you to go about changing/fixing/rearranging things to get the effect/look you want.

Loopysue

Good thinking Lorelei

kenposan

Did think about posting the actual file. duh.

I made a terrain test file and attached it. Hopefully it will help you tell me what I am doing wrong.

I've choosing the terrain from 'default terrain', btw.

thanks!!

Monsen

Both your 'path' polygons and our 'outside' polygon are all on the OUTSIDE sheet. As explained above, effects like fade operate on the outline of the total set of the entities on the sheet, therefore there is no fade between these entities, since they are on the same sheet.

Loopysue

Ok, I clearly don't have those fills because all I'm getting is a sea of red crosses, but one thing I can definitely say for sure is that you have nothing on the PATH sheet.

The path is on the wrong sheet. You can see this if you click Hide all, and only have the PATH sheet visible.

As for the rest of the problem I really don't have a clue because I can't see which fill is what, but maybe Lorelei can help a bit more.

At any rate, you need to get that path on the right sheet to start with

Loopysue

Ninjad by Remy :P

Lorelei

There you have it. All of your polygons are on the same sheet. If you hide all sheets except the OUTSIDE sheet, you can then easily choose the polygon and MOVE to SHEET in the Properties tab and place the poly on whichever sheet you'd like - then add the effects to said sheet.

kenposan

Posted By: LoreleiThere you have it. All of your polygons are on the same sheet. If you hide all sheets except the OUTSIDE sheet, you can then easily choose the polygon and MOVE to SHEET in the Properties tab and place the poly on whichever sheet you'd like - then add the effects to said sheet.

Okay, that helps me for my test map so I can see how to move something from one sheet to another. Thanks for that!

Now, how do I get this stuff on the correct sheet to begin with? I'm clearly putting my path on the wrong sheet, but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Here is what I was doing:

Choose my terrain
Choose the sheet
Add to drawing

but apparently me selecting a sheet isn't actually moving the poly to that sheet. In the words if Vinnie Barbarino- I'm so confused!

and I appreciate everyone's patience and help!!!

Monsen

This is because you use the predefined drawing tools. Most of these are configured to choose their own sheet instead of your current sheet, to ensure things ends up on the right sheet. This is a great idea 95% of the time, but for those remaining 5%, either use the basic tools from the right hand toolbars, these are not smart, and do exactly as you tell them, or use Change Properties on the entities after you have drawn them to move them to a different sheet.

Dogtag

Or make a custom tool that puts the results on the current sheet, based on the standard tool. It's actually very easy.

Try this:

1. Open the Select drawing tool dialog box .
   
2. Click the Advanced>> button.
   
3. Select the tool you want to "copy" from the list.
   
4. Click New.
   
5. Save it with a different name (e.g. append ", Current Sheet" to the name).
   
6. Now, make sure the newly-saved tool is selected in the list, and then click the Properties button.
   
7. Delete the value in the Sheet field to use the current sheet.
   
8. Save.

For details, see Monsen's excellent Command of the Week series posts, Managing Drawing Tools (Week 20), and Automatic Sheets for Symbols and Drawing Tools (Week 46), and/or read the informative Drawing Tools section in the CC3+ User Manual, starting on p. 86. It includes sections on editing and creating drawing tools. You can open the User Manual from the Help menu in CC3+.

Note: The new tool will only be available for the map style you're currently using, but it's very easy to do and you can always do it for other map styles, too.

Cheers,
~Dogtag